Friday, September 26, 2008

We have really started the process of packing our house this week. This is hard to begin with but when you add the facts that I haven't moved much so I don't really know how to pack, I'm 30 weeks pregnant and can't lift much or bend well and there is a 19 month old constantly at my feet you can see how this would be extra difficult. Thankfully Josh's mom and my mom are great packers/organizers and I swear they even enjoy it somehow. Josh's mom came over Wednesday and we spent the day packing. Isabel quickly decided that she would help. She got some paper and started wrapping her toys and putting them in this box. It was pretty funny!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I can't even believe that I am about to write this post. It seems impossible that I am about to write that we are MOVING!! I'm so proud to say that Josh has a new job as the student pastor at Bluegrass Baptist Church. We have been praying about an opportunity like this for 2 years and there is no doubt that this is what we were waiting on. This is exactly where God wants us to be and we are so excited about it.
So you may be asking, where exactly is Bluegrass Baptist Church? Well, it is in Hendersonville, TN (a great city just north of Nashville). I know....it is not Birmingham and if you know me well, you know that while Josh has moved many times throughout his life, I am a Birmingham girl through and through and have never lived anywhere else. The amazing thing is that I am excited about this move which again reassures me that this is God's plan for our family. We have been to Hendersonville 4 times in the past 6 weeks and I'm in love with this area. In fact, we are already in the process of buying a new house that I love. I'll post pictures soon I promise. God has worked out every detail for us and although moving is stressful, so far things have gone well.
In case you are wondering, I do remember that I am pregnant...30 weeks to be exact. This baby is quite active and there is not a second that he lets me forget. I know that moving while 8 months pregnant will be interesting but I'm assured that it can be done. My parents actually moved to Birmingham when my mom was about 7 months pregnant with me and she survived.
So we are moving...soon. While we are so sad to leave our family, friends, Sunday School class, doctors and everything else in Birmingham, we are excited about this opportunity. We have no doubts that this is God's plan for our lives and He has given us an amazing sense of peace. We have already met so many wonderful people in Hendersonville and we love the church so much! Josh is going to LOVE his new job and I could not be happier for him. Please pray for our family in the next few weeks. We have a lot to do and not a lot of time. Please pray specifically for Isabel as well. That precious little girl is about to experience a whole lot of change in her life but we know she can handle it.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Since Isabel's bumbo seat was purple, we bought a blue bumbo from a friend. Although it will be a while before the new baby can use it, Izzy is already loving it!! It is hard to get in the bumbo with her "blankie" around herAlong with the blue bumbo, Izzy has really gotten into "tameras" and pictures recently. Even to the point that there are times when I want to take a picture but it just isn't worth it. As soon as she sees the camera (or decides something she is doing that is picture worthy...seriously) she starts begging for the "tamera" and wants to see the babies (which means she wants to see the last few pictures taken). Finally the other day she decided that Josh's Wii remote is a camera too so she uses this to take pictures. It makes my life so much easier!!
Here she is showing Grams the "babies"

Since it is finally starting to feel like fall, Isabel and I decided to go to the park yesterday. My little "chicken" is finally getting braver. She decided that she LOVED the slide and didn't want mommy to even hold her hand when she went down.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Isabel is now 19 months. I feel like she has grown up a lot in the past month. She is learning something new every day and constantly surprises us and makes us laugh. Isabel is such a funny kid but she is also very sensitive. She gets very worried if someone is "sad" or hurt. She will be the first to give you a hug if she thinks something is wrong. It is precious. I think she is going to be a great big sister. We just have to keep working on that gentle concept!! She loves to "rock rock" at Grams house

Here are some new things Isabel has started doing this month:

* She finally knows her name. She actually calls herself "Izzybell" if you ask her name but often refers to herself as Izzy throughout the day. Usually she refers to herself when she is informing me that she wants to do something on her own "No mommy, Izzy" or with me "Izzy too?" The new constant asserting of her independence is very hard at times and we have had a few tantrums. I'm sure there are many more to come.

*She is really getting into learning her colors. When we first started telling her the color of something or asking her what color something was she would respond with random nouns. For example, "what color is that toy?" would be answered with "Walrus" Then she actually started naming colors but her favorites were blue and purple so that was pretty much always the answer. Now she gets it right about 50-60% of the time. The amazing/annoying thing is that she almost always knows the color of her bows so when she is wearing a pink and purple outfit but begs for a "geen" bow, there is no tricking her!

* She is learning her numbers too. If you ask her how old she is, she will tell you four without hesitation. I have no idea why she has decided she is four but there is no convincing her that she is actually one. She loves to "count" which usually is just 20 seconds of her naming numbers. The crazy part is that sometimes she will get them in order.

*If you know Isabel, you know she has always been a big talker and had a pretty big vocabulary at an early age. I feel like in the past month, she has started saying more than words or even phrases though. She tries so hard to tell us "stories" and it is hilarious!! Usually these stories include a ton of words but you can really only understand about 75%. There are always plenty of hand gestures and facial expressions which is my favorite. Sometimes we can ask enough questions to figure out what she is talking about. For example, all last week she would say "Nanny's kitty kittys...Milo, Muffin....sad" When we asked why they were sad she would quickly say "no toys." I have no idea why she decided the cats had no toys but she worried about it all week.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Isabel has a new love these days....."blankies" Fortunately, according to Isabel a blankie can be almost anything....a washcloth, a sheet, a baby blanket or a lovey. It can also be used for all sorts of things but her favorite is a new thing to sleep with and a dress/skirt. I think this started at my mom's house when she saw some old sheets my mom had with care bears and sesame street characters on them. She immediately wanted the "blankie" around her and then she wanted to sit in our laps and cuddle. Of course my mom and I loved this. Now she has two pillow cases that are her blankies at Grams' house (the sheets were a little hard to get around in). She will wrap these around her baby dolls, cover herself with them, or ask us to tie them around her like a dress. A few days after this started at my mom's house, she was helping me fold the laundry and decided that one specific washcloth was her blankie. She carried it around the rest of the night and then wanted to sleep with it. The next day she found a baby blanket and wanted it tied around her like a dress. She is a funny girl.

By the way, this is her new "piture" face. She asks for the "tamera" to take a "piture" and then smiles like this.

Monday, September 1, 2008

I know this blog is usually about Isabel. Josh and I realized long ago that now that she is here, we are way less interesting. I'm sure this will get even worse in November! However, I want to take a minute to talk about my husband. As many of you know, he works at the Birmingham Red Cross in the disaster services department. He always works hard but any time there is a disaster (apartment fire, tornado, hurricane, etc) he works really hard. Well, as you can imagine the past few days have been pretty horrible for him. I will spare you all of the horrible details but basically in just a few hours, they had to prepare for 4,000 evacuees to be bused in from New Orleans. They have opened 10 different shelters and worked to get enough cots, blankets, food, water, supplies and everything else to these shelters. Now there is a constant effort to get these people fed, provide medical care, give showers, etc. It is ridiculous how much is going on that most people don't even think about.

Josh got home around 10pm on Friday night and was back at work early Sat morning. He then worked over 30 hours straight with only 30 min of sleep since the buses arrived in the middle of the night. He came home around 3pm yesterday afternoon, slept for 2 hours, ate dinner, played with Izzy and then was back by 9pm and stayed all night. These hours will most likely continue all week. I am so proud of all he is doing but worried about him too. You can only work that hard, deal with this much stress, and get a small amount of sleep for so long before it really affects you. He is exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. As you are praying for the people who live in the path of the storm, please pray for Josh and other Red Cross workers and volunteers. You can pray for Izzy and me too. We miss our daddy/husband. I can't tell you how many times a day I hear Izzy say " more daddy" or "daddy HOMA (home)"